MOTOR NOTES.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15308, 5 June 1922, Page 7

MOTOR NOTES.

Merely relying upon a switch key these days is absolutely no protection against the expert motor thief.

An automobile, when in perfect working order, requires from one to ten seconds to crank the engine.

Keeping appearances up and expenses down are the greatest difficulties laany persons have in owning automobiles. v

After agitating for them for a number of years, Christchurch is at last to have proper traffic policemen, it is reported.

G-rease, oils, and acids that have come in contact with the rubber tyre can be removed easily by using a cloth moistened with petrol.

A few drops of kerosene on the dirty interrupter-points in the magneto will remedy the trouble of poor action and restore the parts to working order.

An Invercargill motorist had an unusual experience recently. He was caught in a heavy squall at Seaward Downs, and both back tyres of his car blew out simultaneously. The car capsized, and the passengers were thrown into a swamp. No one was hurt.

The Automobile Club of Missouri, with a membership of 20,000 motorists, has chapters in all cities and towns in the State. Its principal purposes are to give road service to members anywhere within the State and work for road legislation. More than 150 official garages of the club are uniter contract and bond to serve its members.

According to a decree just published in France, all speed meters and gauges for use on automobiles, motor cycles, flying machines, and motor vessels, including parts, are how subject to the payment of the the following import duties: 90 per cent, ad valorem, according to the general tariff, and 35 per cent, ad valorem, according to the minimum tariff, whether containing clockwork movement or not.

An interesting topic is the possibility of providing a lorry load line equivalent to the Plimsoll mark on a steamer. At the present time lorries are loaded without much regard as to whether the maximum that should be carried has been exceeded. It is suggested that one way of indicating the load would be by measuring the deflection of the springs, a pointer showing the total axle weight.

There is one weak point in the ignition arrangements of almost any motor-cycle which is capable of giving an immense amount of trouble in ideally wet weather. This is the liability of current leakage from the usually-exposed terminal fitted to the lead between the magneto and the sparking plug. Once the rubber covering of the high-tension wire becomes thoroughly wet—certainly it is not often this occurs — the current is able to leak along the wet lead to the frame. For this defect the obvious remedy seems to lie in the complete protection of all high-tension terminals, including that of the spark plug.